I finally figured out what I find so bizarre about this photo – the cat to rat to wheel ratio is all off.

Cat:Rat:Wheel is just completely off! That wheel seems massive for the rat, while seeming just a tad too small to accomodate the cat to properly run, and yet the cat sits in it fairly comfortably…but despite being a kitten, it seems still much larger than the rat.

Why are the badger comments closed? I didn’t get to sing the badger earworm song and now it’s going to be in me head for the rest of the day!

I think we’ve got this wrong, and the rat is the kitteh’s personal trainer. In the second photo he’s walking away disgusted because the cat isn’t giving it 110%. It’s difficult to get cats to exercise. If only there was a post of a cat doing only one sit-up to prove this….

CoffeeCup, because rats are so long and built so low to the ground, their exercise wheels need to be quite large to keep their little spines healthy. If they have one at all, that is – many rats just don’t enjoy them, as they’re more climbers than runners. Anyway, a standard ratty-wheel would be about 30cm/12in, and it looks to me like that’s the size of the one in the photo.